Decentralized Marketplace OpenBazaar Secures $5 Million Series A Financing Round

Creating the biggest decentralized marketplace in the world is a lofty goal, but that is what the OpenBazaar team is aiming to do.

They have received a boost to their efforts after OB1, their parent company of OpenBazaar just announced they have completed a series A round to raise $5 million. With cryptocurrencies and blockchain becoming more popular by the day, OpenBazaar has been seeing significant growth and this round of funding will help them to further capitalize on their success to date.

At the moment, OpenBazaar is the sole e-commerce marketplace which provides sellers and buyers with the ability to purchase items in a secure, trustless and commission-free manner.

Their updated platform was launched at the end of 2017, with more than 40,000 people having already joined their network to date. OpenBazaar further expanded their flexibility in 2018, this time by adding payment capabilities on the marketplace for Zcash and Bitcoin Cash.

This successful Series A round of funding is a statement of promise for this marketplace. The round of funding was led by the venture capital department of the OMERS pension fund, called OMERS Ventures.

There were a number of other notable investors who partook in this round, such as Bitmain, Digital Currency Group, BlueYard Capital, Union Square Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. The Managing Partner at OMERS Ventures Jim Orlando talked about their excitement to be involved with this venture and noted that they were looking forward to seeing what the future holds for the forward-thinking projects the OpenBazaar team are working on.

What is next for OpenBazaar?

Now that they have the round of fundraising out of the way, they can put all their focus on the improvement of their marketplace.

They want to continue pushing the bounds of the level of control and flexibility buyers and sellers have when using their marketplace.

Some of their plans for the coming year involve having mobile and web versions released of this app, in addition to continuing to increase the number of methods that users can utilize for trading with one another. This includes the adoption of further cryptocurrencies on their marketplace. The CEO of OB1, Brian Hoffman, talked of the team’s delight at being partnered with esteemed investors such as Bitmain and OMERS Ventures alongside their current strong line-up of international investors.

They want to focus on helping both individuals and business owners to move away from the rigidly controlled legacy e-commerce system that has stifled the industry in recent times. Instead, OpenBazaar aims to have an e-commerce environment which is independent, fair and free. This is certainly an interesting project to follow as it continues to develop and aims to deliver on some of their lofty goals. If they continue to see significant growth, you can be sure that the likes of Amazon will be sitting up in their seats and keeping a close eye on everything OpenBazaar is doing.